Brands need to address consumers individually

He said, nowadays, people use ‘tools’ they didn’t have years ago and it's become a standard in our lives.

“What is smart about printing is that it’s just ink on material but actually what the print represents can be used to add value to a package to become smar​t,” he said.

“Electronics devices have driven all these changes and has been the main contributor to change, everything today has come through the evolution of electronics​.”

According to Menegon, humans are changing their behavior patterns and the value today is not in the tool itself but how we use information.

“It’s the information that is of value, not the package. Packaging is the last stage that is used to convince the customer to buy a product​,” he said.

“Brand owners can do as much advertising as they want, but it’s not until the consumer buys the product that the deal is done. Shapes, material, color and print are all important, but there is no chance to have an interaction with a consumer if it is static​.

“Before, packaging was the layer protecting the goods or a way to identify a brand, and to make it attractive, we added color, but there was no interaction​.

“Now brands need an interaction of some sort to influence the consumer and develop their loyalty. How would you be tempted to return to a certain brand if there was no value for you? You want something that talks to you; you want something regional; seasonal; whatever the reason, the brand has to motivate the consumer to interact with it​.

“The gold medal goes to the company that can interact with the consumer one-on-one. If a brand can address us individually that is fantastic and that is where digital printing can play a role​.”

Oreo Colorfilled cookies

As an example, Menegon applauded Mondelēz for its Oreo campaign, ‘Oreo Colorfilled’​ that invites consumers to design their own packaging - personalized, flexible packaging, for a higher cost.

The packages were printed using an HP Indigo WS6600 digital press, according to Doris Brown-McNally, business development manager, Worldwide Brands, HP.

Cindy Chen, global head of e-commerce, Mondelēz International, said, at the time of the launch last November, Oreo’s creative digital move was part of a larger e-commerce and customization strategy for the company.

Consumers were able to choose two basic packaging covers from two designers: Timothy Goodman, an award-winning designer based in New York City, and Jeremyville, an artist with roots in street art and comics, via the online platform shop.oreo.com

The designs were a montage of holiday-related objects, such as candles, Christmas trees and Santa Claus, and there was a social media campaign coaxing customers to share designs on Instagram and Twitter.

Origamoo

HP also partnered with Strauss-Elite, Israeli chocolate manufacturer, on its Parra (“Cow”) brand, to replace its red cow packaging with colorful illustrations, produced from 17 designs with HP SmartStream Mosaic software and printed on HP Indigo 10000.

The Parra brand has used an iconic cow in its signature red packaging since its inception in 1934.

As part of the value-added advertising campaign, Elite partnered with an origami artist to create a folding wrapper, printed with dotted lines on the back to create a paper cow - an ‘origamoo’.

The campaign was developed to breathe new life into the brand and encouraged consumers to share their origamoo cows on social media with prizes to be won.

HP said at the time it found an opportunity for the brand to correlate with two cultural mega-trends: the reuse trend, and Do It Yourself (DIY) transforming a pack into attractive, individual works of art.

“The problems today are the supply chain may not be able to cope with this type of flexibility, but the tools are coming​,” added Menegon.